Changes being made to borough town centres to help social distancing

Alterations to town centre layouts have been taking place across the county after the government asked councils to make them safe for shoppers.

The changes include making some pavements wider by taking away a small number of parking bays, making some roads one way or closed to give more space for shoppers or offer a safe cycling and walking route, and putting up signs reminding people to keep their distance from others.

Long Eaton and Ilkeston are amongst 40 town to have changes made over the next few weeks. 

Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Infrastructure, Councillor Simon Spencer, said: “We were asked by the government to look at what we could do to give more space for those in town centres.  We hope our measures will give more people the confidence to come back into our town centres and give a much needed boost to our local businesses.

“We were also asked to look at creating safe routes for people to cycle or walk into town centres or hospitals rather than drive.  This is the first phase of work that we’ve been asked to do, and were given £443,000, our full allocation, in funding to pay for it.

“We now wait to see how we bid for money for more permanent measures to get more people walking and cycling in the future.”

You can comment on the changes to town centres at derbyshire.gov.uk.   All the comments will be forwarded to the highways team for them to consider.